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NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson calls Chad Knaus's comments 'foolish'

October 27, 2011

NASCAR officials warned Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus that their car likely will be closely inspected for the rest of the season. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAHPIC

Five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson on Friday said his crew chief, Chad Knaus, made "a foolish statement" last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway by suggesting Johnson damage the back of their car if they won the Good Sam Club 500.

Knaus was caught on an open microphone telling Johnson to "cover our bases" by damaging their car with an "unintentional" celebratory bump, in case post-race technical inspectors found the car's body to be out of spec.

NASCAR officials on Friday spoke with Johnson and Knaus about the incident. They warned both driver and crew chief they should expect their car to be called to NASCAR's Research & Development Center for detailed post-race inspections for the remainder of the season.

Johnson said that while Knaus has openly addressed the issue and is not trying to hide anything, critics should remember that their Chevrolet passed every pre- and post-race inspection this season.

"The car passed inspection multiple times throughout the course of the weekend," Johnson said on Friday at Martinsville Speedway. "At the end of the day, while Chad was trying to protect himself post-race, he made a foolish statement. That's truly it.

"At the end of the day, that car passed inspection at an 'impound race' and was pushed out onto the grid. It was certainly something we didn't want to take place. You can tell from my reaction it was something I'd never heard in the car and it is what it is. The car passed tech and people have to build faith in that. Chad and I certainly respect NASCAR and their inspection process; unfortunately it happened for really no reason at all. We have to put it behind us."

"As he talked to me [over the radio], he made a reference to covering his bases and I'm like, I'm not thinking about that, I'm going racing like I always do,'" Johnson said. "That was that. You can tell by my reaction in the car that it was something I had not heard before."

NASCAR officials released a statement after their meeting with Johnson and Knaus.

"We had the opportunity to visit with Chad and Jimmie," the statement said. "As the sport's governing body we were doing our due diligence to look into this and gain some insight into the comments Chad made before the race at Talladega. We have a responsibility to the rest of the garage area to ensure that everyone is competing on a level playing field with the inspection processes we have in place. The [car No.] 48 organization knows from this occurrence that their car is likely to be a regular customer at the R&D Center for post race inspection the balance of this season."

Knaus said his meeting with NASCAR president Mike Helton, NASCAR director of competition Robin Pemberton and Sprint Cup series director John Darby cleared the air.

"I have a very clear understanding of what they expect and the way they expect us to conduct ourselves," Knaus told ESPN.com. "I meant no disrespect to NASCAR or any of the competitors."